WP2: 1st revision

Aaron Johnson, has made himself well known through his ongoing series of daily comics featuring a main cartoon named W.T. Duck, a photographer. He began making comics just as a blog filler, but has largely grown in popularity. His comics are published daily in many newspapers as well as several websites including the yahoo news section which is where I first saw it. Johnson's personal website, whattheduck.net, contains fan commentary as well as every wt duck comic he has ever published. Johnson also openly takes criticism and suggestions via twitter and email on his website which I found interesting. The fact that Johnson did begin his career as a blogger is important because we then know he is the type of person that likes to get his ideas out there for the world to see. We should remember that this is his motivation for creating the comics while we analyze them.
The comic above is the one I am choosing to analyze for for this second project. It is part of Aaron Johnsons WT Duck series and was published a few days before Halloween of this year. The scene has the photographer, wt duck, telling five monsters that he charges extra for Ugly. Frankenstien responds by yelling "That's Discrimination," followed by the next three monsters swearing. Lastly the invisible man says, "sweet." The reason this comic stood out to me was because I found the dialogue really funny. One thing that is important to notice about this comic though is that Johnson chooses to act against several standard mechanics that one would find in a standard comic strip. Rhetorically, these mechanics contradict the subject matter within the comic strip and argue that discrimination is never toward just one group and often has an effect on evrybody, regaurdless of the target.
If one looks at the WT Duck comic and then the comic above, they first appear very similar in style. They both include three frames, illustrated cartoons and dialougue bubbles. The key to the argument of Johnsons comic though is where he chosses to diferentiate his style from that of a more traditional comic. The first difference I noticed was Johnsons use of frames. In a traditional comic, you will see each frame present either a different scene of timeframe. On the other hand, Johnsons three frames all apear to be responding to the same event at the same moment in time, and even appear to be located sequentially. For example the whiches broom crosses over from one frame to the next and the grey foreground is persistant throughout. I beieve this choice was made largely due to Johnsons desire to remain consistant in terms of ethos almost all of his other comics are structured with the three frame style. However it is also important to look at why then he choose to only portrey one scene to represent this situation. The comic can be divided into two elements. The photographer(duck), and the monsters all responding to him. They appear to be in a line waiting for his service and it is suggested that all but the invisible man will be charged extra. The effect the three frames has on me is it devides the second element, the monsters, apart from each other who I would otherwise have in my mind grouped together as just all monsters. So, it is possible that Johnsons strategy was to use the frames to create a division in the charactors that the audience otherwise would not have picked up on, yet still keep the scene together as one whole. Nextly, Johnson furthur divides these three frames by making the backgrounds distinctly different colors. In a traditional comic, like the one above, you will normally only see one consistant background color. These colors not only make the divison in frames more visible, but also act to set a mood, distinct to each frame. For example, in the first frame, Orange is used, which is a bright, intense color, and could be assosiated with the intense reaction from the Frankenstien monster to the duck. The second frame is white which could suggest indifference and the last frame is purple and could represent sadness. These different moods are important because although all of the monsters appear to be reacting the same, it is possible that the backgrounds reflect their true emotions on the situation. This become particularly important with the invisible man in the back because although it appears he is getting what he wants, the fact that he is at the back of the line and in the purple depressing background could suggest that he is unhappy. If we go back to the topic of dicrimination and the re-examine this scenario, this comic now appears to be showing that the only one who does not get discriminated against are the ones who stand in the back and do not stand out and that these people are the ones who are truely not happy.

Next I would like to focus on Johnsons choice of positioning for his quotation bubbles. It you look at the second comic I posted, you can see that traditionally, quotations are read from top to bottom, left to right, and never cover the characters face. If you examine Johnsons comic, first you will see that the sequence of quotes starts at the bottom left instead of the top left. This naturally causes the audience to see the quote, "Thats Discrimination!" before the first quote in the conversation. This automaticly sets the topic of discussion and mindset of the audience to discrimination before they even know whats going on in the rest of the situation. This could serve several puposes. For example, Johnson could be trying to make a point that this is how people act in society today, that people jump to conclusions before analyzing situations. Johnson could have also chosen to do this to bring the topic of discimination to the mindset of the audience first, before the comedy in the rest of the strip was able to take over. The second interesting choice Johnson makes in terms of the quotation positioning is that several of the quotes actually cover the faces of the charactors. This directly takes away from the charactor's identity and deflects attention towards what they are saying. There are a variety of possible puposes for this, but I feel that the efect it has on this situation in particular is that it shows a lack of effect of the particular charactor's response. For example, when a charactor says something, but you cant see their face, it conveys a feeling that they are being ignored or not listened to. This could be referring to the duck and how he may not care what the monsters think. In terms of the rhetorical argument, I feel this adds to the discrimination scenario being created as people who are being discriminated against often feel like they dont have a voice.

A third major difference between this WT Duck comic and most other comics is that there is an apparent difference in level of detail illustrated between charactors. This goes back to the two elements I discribed earlier. First we have the duck, who in reality dosnt really resemble a duck at all, and only includes details such as a bill and dots for eyes. The second element, the monsters in contrast poses a relatively high level of detail all the way down to creases in clothing and skin. The effect this creates is a widened separation between the photographer, and discriminator from the monsters. The high level of detail in the monsters make them seem much more "real" in the eyes of the audience than the simplified duck, even though in reality ducks exist and monsters dont. Johnsons strategy was likely to make the monsters be the element in the comic in which the audience related, causing them, in a way, to feel the same "discrimination" which the monsters are going through. This apeals to the overall Pathos of the comic, bringing out an emotional response from the audience with respect to the argument.

In the end, the majority of people who saw this comic just got a quick laugh and then moved on, so what then is the signifigance of these rhetorical strategies? Often time texts can influence our thoughts, feelings and attitudes without us being consiously aware. While we may not know exactly what Johnsons feelings are on certain topics, we can assume that his work is a direct reflection and with this comic in particular, we for sure know the topic of discrimination was what he wanted to draw to attention based on his particular mechanics he chose. \When the audience sees this comic, the topic of discrimination is brought up in their minds and then the rest of the comic acts as a medium to possibly redirect their thoughts on the issue.

WP2: Rough Draft

Aaron Johnson, has made himself well known through his ongoing series of daily comics featuring a main cartoon named W.T. Duck, a photographer. His comics are published daily in many newspapers as well as several websites including the yahoo news section which is where I first saw it. Johnson's personal website, whattheduck.net, contains fan commentary as well as every wt duck comic he has ever published.

The comic above is the one I am choosing to analyze for for this second project. It is part of Aaron Johnsons WT Duck series and was published a few days before Halloween of this year. The scene has the photographer, wt duck, telling five monsters that he charges extra for Ugly. Frankenstien responds by yelling "That's Discrimination," followed by the next three monsters swearing. Lastly the invisible man says, "sweet." The reason this comic stood out to me was because I found the dialogue really funny. One thing that is important to notice about this comic though is that Johnson chooses to act against several standard mechanics that one would find in a standard comic strip. Rhetorically, these mechanics contradict the subject matter within the comic strip and argue that discrimination is never toward just one group and often has an effect on evrybody, regaurdless of the target.
If one looks at the WT Duck comic and then the comic above, they first appear very similar in style. They both include three frames, illustrated cartoons and dialougue bubbles. The key to the argument of Johnsons comic though is where he chosses to diferentiate his style from that of a more traditional comic. The first difference I noticed was Johnsons use of frames. In a traditional comic, you will see each frame present either a different scene of timeframe. On the other hand, Johnsons three frames all apear to be responding to the same event at the same moment in time, and even appear to be located sequentially. For example the whiches broom crosses over from one frame to the next and the grey foreground is persistant throughout. I beieve this choice was made largely due to Johnsons desire to remain consistant in terms of ethos almost all of his other comics are structured with the three frame style. However it is also important to look at why then he choose to only portrey one scene to represent this situation. The comic can be divided into two elements. The photographer(duck), and the monsters all responding to him. They appear to be in a line waiting for his service and it is suggested that all but the invisible man will be charged extra. The effect the three frames has on me is it devides the second element, the monsters, apart from each other who I would otherwise have in my mind grouped together as just all monsters. So, it is possible that Johnsons strategy was to use the frames to create a division in the charactors that the audience otherwise would not have picked up on, yet still keep the scene together as one whole. Nextly, Johnson furthur divides these three frames by making the backgrounds distinctly different colors. In a traditional comic, like the one above, you will normally only see one consistant background color. These colors not only make the divison in frames more visible, but also act to set a mood, distinct to each frame. For example, in the first frame, Orange is used, which is a bright, intense color, and could be assosiated with the intense reaction from the Frankenstien monster to the duck. The second frame is white which could suggest indifference and the last frame is purple and could represent sadness. These different moods are important because although all of the monsters appear to be reacting the same, it is possible that the backgrounds reflect their true emotions on the situation. This become particularly important with the invisible man in the back because although it appears he is getting what he wants, the fact that he is at the back of the line and in the purple depressing background could suggest that he is unhappy. If we go back to the topic of dicrimination and the re-examine this scenario, this comic now appears to be showing that the only one who does not get discriminated against are the ones who stand in the back and do not stand out and that these people are the ones who are truely not happy.

Next I would like to focus on Johnsons choice of positioning for his quotation bubbles. It you look at the second comic I posted, you can see that traditionally, quotations are read from top to bottom, left to right, and never cover the characters face. If you examine Johnsons comic, first you will see that the sequence of quotes starts at the bottom left instead of the top left. This naturally causes the audience to see the quote, "Thats Discrimination!" before the first quote in the conversation. This automaticly sets the topic of discussion and mindset of the audience to discrimination before they even know whats going on in the rest of the situation. This could serve several puposes. For example, Johnson could be trying to make a point that this is how people act in society today, that people jump to conclusions before analyzing situations. Johnson could have also chosen to do this to bring the topic of discimination to the mindset of the audience first, before the comedy in the rest of the strip was able to take over. The second interesting choice Johnson makes in terms of the quotation positioning is that several of the quotes actually cover the faces of the charactors. This directly takes away from the charactor's identity and deflects attention towards what they are saying. There are a variety of possible puposes for this, but I feel that the efect it has on this situation in particular is that it shows a lack of effect of the particular charactor's response. For example, when a charactor says something, but you cant see their face, it conveys a feeling that they are being ignored or not listened to. This could be referring to the duck and how he may not care what the monsters think. In terms of the rhetorical argument, I feel this adds to the discrimination scenario being created as people who are being discriminated against often feel like they dont have a voice.

A third major difference between this WT Duck comic and most other comics is that there is an apparent difference in level of detail illustrated between charactors. This goes back to the two elements I discribed earlier. First we have the duck, who in reality dosnt really resemble a duck at all, and only includes details such as a bill and dots for eyes. The second element, the monsters in contrast poses a relatively high level of detail all the way down to creases in clothing and skin. The effect this creates is a widened separation between the photographer, and discriminator from the monsters. The high level of detail in the monsters make them seem much more "real" in the eyes of the audience than the simplified duck, even though in reality ducks exist and monsters dont. Johnsons strategy was likely to make the monsters be the element in the comic in which the audience related, causing them, in a way, to feel the same "discrimination" which the monsters are going through. This apeals to the overall Pathos of the comic, bringing out an emotional response from the audience with respect to the argument.

WP2: Statement of Purpose

For my second project I have chosen to analyze the comic strip shown above. I found this comic a couple days before Halloween posted on the news section of the yahoo website and was illustrated by a man named Aaron Johnson. My primary audience for this project will be Mr. Ware, my teacher. He is the most important audience because he will be the one placing a grade on my work and likely will look at it the most extensively. The most likely secondary audience I also have to take into account will be my fellow classmates because several of them will see my work through the pier review process. With these two audiences in mind, the most effective way for me to format my project will be to state the point i am making, then clearly support the claim with several, clearly written paragraphs followed by a summarizing conclusion. This will allow my paper to be easily interpreted by both my audiences. It is also important to keep in mind that the medium in which I am writing is a blogpost as opposed to a paper or an article. As far as my project goes, this means that my audience will be viewing my text from a computer screen. Sense my project is based off of a comic strip, I need to make sure that my chosen comic appears clearly on the computer screen so that my audience has something to refer to while I am making my points. It will also be important for me to make effective use of paragraph spacing and indentation to best help the audience follow my paper while viewing it from a screen. The point I intend on making in my project is that The Halloween comic above Is not only intended to be comical, but also argues that some functions in todays society are set up to only benefit a select few. Johnson accomplishes this through text, visual hierarchy, vectors of attention and contrasting elements.

The context in which this project will be composed is simply as a writing project in early November through the medium of a blog posting website. It will include traditional text as well as multiple hyperlinks and multimedia elements. My goal should be to make all three of these things work together effectively to help support the my point. It may be hard for my audience to see where I am coming from with my view that the comic represents an unfair distribution of rewards in society, so I will first need to establish what I feel each of the separate elements represents, and then build on how the separate elements work together to make the point that I see. My goal isnt necessarily to make my audience agree with me, but at least show them my point of view and logically take them through my thought process. To do this I also plan on an in depth analysis on what I feel the logos, pathos and ethos within the comic appeal to.

Blog Post 12: Comic Background Info.

I found my chosen comic strip from the news section of the yahoo website. It comes from a series of comic strips entitled W.T. Duck written by Aaron Johnson. He publishes a new strip every day on a site named whattheduck.net. The comic strips cover a variety of comical subjects, and every one of them feature a duck working as a photographer as the main character. Another thing all of Johnsons strips have in common is they are always three frames in length. Sometimes each frame acts as a separate seen and other times, like in my chosen comic, the three frames act together as one.

As far as the context goes, we know that Aaron Johnsons main goal when making any of his comics is to have them be consistantly funny, so that in turn, websites like yahoo publish them daily. This helps Johnson to build his audience as well as make more money. The particular comic I chose was published on October 27 of this year, so we know that this comic is very recent and is likely rhetoricly dealing with issues of modern day society.

When I origionally saw the comic strip, I kind of had a clew that this series of comics always included a duck, just based on the title. What I didnt pick up untill after was that this duck was always a photogropher. It's hard to say for certain why Johnson chose this particular profession for the duck, but I would guess that a photogropher acts to represent bot the average working class American, as well as possibly just a third party observer of situations. After looking through some of Johnsons older comics, i also noticed that the cartoons included besides the duck are normally either another duck, or humans. In my chosen comic, he instead chooses to incorporate monsters. This is probably largely due to the fact that it is near holloween, but also could be that this comic pokes alittle at discrimination and it may have ben uncomfurtable to place human charactors in this situation.

The chosen medium is also a large factor in the context of this piece. When people see this text, they will likely be either brousing through comic strips in the newspaper or skimming through the comics page of some website. This means that the target audience will likely be in a sort of mood for laughter and comic relief. This is a far diferent situation then in Johnson was trying to make a point through the medium of writing a book or publishing an article, just beacuase people would not view it in the same light. Johnson uses the medium of a comic to discretly shape opinions of current issues he feels are important while the audience most of the time thinks they are just getting a good laugh.

Blog Post 11:comic strip

This is the comic I am going to analyze. I chose this comic because at first appearence it is simple, funny, and to the point. The interactions between my characters are visually develloped by five common monsters all focussed on a duck to the far left of the strip, holding a camera. The interactions betwween my characters are textually developed by the duck stating, "I bill for my time, The ugly get charged more." The Frankenstein monster responds by calling it discrimination. The wearwolf, swamp monster and witch then all respond by what appears to be symbols representing a swear word and lastly, the invisible man says, "sweet!"
At first look, it is easy to just assume this comic is making a holoween joke, but one could also look at this piece with the perspective that the comic is playing to some idea or theme in todays society. For example, the holoween theme could be used to set up a current day context, The first four monsters could represent people who stand out in todays society, and the invisible man could represent one who stays under the radar. So, the rhetorical meaning of this comic could be something like those who stand out today get screwed over.
Another interesting component to look at is the quote by Frankenstien where he says, "That's Discrimination." This also sort of creates a sort of current day context as we hear people the topic of discrimination so much in the news. It also creates a sence of irony within the piece as every cartoon is extreemly different yet the duck can somehow still be accused of discrimination. This brings up another possible rhetorical meaning for this piece, that in today's society, its hard to do almost anything without being sued or accused of some sort of discrimination.
The relationship between the panels is established by a transition of colors from orange to white to purple backgrounds. It is interesting because these three boxes could easily all be put together to appear as one scene, but for some reason, the author decided to divide them. It is posible that this was incorporated as a strategy to create a visual heiarchy to bring the audiences eye from the left side of the comic to the right.